2025 Notes on Parashat Vaeira (Exodus 6:2-9:35) (2025注释“我显现”出埃及记6:2-9:35)

2025 Notes on Parashat Vaeira (Exodus 6:2-9:35) (2025注释“我显现”出埃及记6:2-9:35)(ChatGPT English translation from Chinese is provided later, edited by Mijiale)

Exodus 6:3   And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Y-HVH was I not known to them. 出埃及记6:3 我从前向亚伯拉罕,以撒,雅各显现为全能的神,至于我名耶和华,他们未曾知道。

2025注释 (设立限制与超越限制): “全能的”,ש-די sha-dai, 更直接的翻译是“足够的那一位”,或“全足者”。神当然也是 “全能”的,但强调祂的全能,常常会使人问很多问题,比如既然神是全能的,为什么祂没让我比爱因斯坦更聪明?为什么祂不让人体细胞活一万岁,等等。强调祂的全足,就可以这样回答,神给我的智力,规定的人体细胞寿命,已经够了,足够在我身上完成祂的旨意了。犹太人传说,神创世之初,世界不断地膨胀,神说“足够了”,于是宇宙就有了有限的大小,参见https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.12a?ven=english|Sefaria_Community_Translation&lang=bi 。神是“那一位ש”说“足够了די”的,祂给了我很多恩典,让我从农村只有两间屋子的小学出来,后来得到学士学位,硕士学位,博士学位,变成大学教授,但在教授之上还有很多层更高的地位,祂没有给我,比如特聘教授,院士,得诺贝尔奖,即使诺贝尔奖得主也有很多层不同级别学术名望的区别。神虽然有能力让人得到任何一个这样的地位,但祂觉得对我来说是一个普通教授就够了,就足够在我身上实现祂的旨意了。是全足的神给我们每一个人设立了限制。从反面看,神对每一个人要受多少苦也设立了限制。比如在创世记43:14雅各对儿子们说,“但愿全能(全足)的神(א-ל ש-די) 使你们在那人面前蒙怜悯,释放你们的那弟兄和便雅悯回来。我若丧了儿子,就丧了吧。”Rashi解释,雅各提到全足的神这个名,是希望说“足够了”的那一位神说雅各所受的苦已经足够了。雅各以前受到过哥哥以扫和舅舅拉班的威胁,后来女儿底拿被辱,爱妻拉结难产而死,爱子约瑟失踪,后来又遇到饥荒,二子西缅被埃及宰相扣押,现在最小的儿子便雅悯又要被带到埃及宰相那里去,他希望神说这些苦难已经足够了。后来,雅各真的命运转折,没有继续遭受灾难,他与约瑟、西缅、便雅悯很快就要重新团聚,而且约瑟已经当了埃及宰相,那里又有足够的粮食。参见 https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.43.14.2?lang=bi

本节出埃及记经文6:3,同时提到神的两个名字:全足的神与耶和华。神向雅各、以撒、亚伯拉罕这些以色列的祖先们,显明祂是全足的神,祂虽然让亚伯拉罕的318人打败了四国联军,让以撒种地有百倍收成,让雅各牧羊也非常成功,但祂没有为前辈们施行水变血,灰尘变虱子,红海分开,等公然违法通常规律的奇迹,因为祂知道这样对先辈们就足够了,祂是说足够的那一位。但是经文发展到这里,几十万以色列人将要从埃及的奴役走出来,成为造物主的选民,神即将施行大量违反常规的神迹奇事,并以此告诉他们,祂是造物主,自然规律是祂订的,祂也能改变,什么都阻挡不了造物主拣选祂的子民的决心。祂要向祂的子民启示耶和华的名字,那超越了一切限制的名。参见

https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Genesis.17.1?ven=english|Commentary_on_the_Torah_by_Ramban_(Nachmanides)._Translated_and_annotated_by_Charles_B._Chavel._New_York,_Shilo_Pub._House,_1971-1976&lang=bi

2025 Notes (Setting limits and transcending limits): The term “Almighty” (ש-די, sha-dai) could be more directly translated as “the One who is sufficient” or “the All-Sufficient One.” While God is, of course, “Almighty,” emphasizing His omnipotence often leads to questions like, “If God is all-powerful, why didn’t He make me smarter than Einstein? Why doesn’t He let the human body’s cells live for 10,000 years?” Emphasizing His sufficiency, however, allows for the answer that God has given me enough—my intelligence and lifespan of the human body’s cells are sufficient for Him to fulfill His purpose in me. Jewish tradition tells of the world’s creation, when the universe kept expanding until God said, “Enough!” (די). Thus, the universe came to have a finite size. See Chagigah 12a https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.12a?ven=english|Sefaria_Community_Translation&lang=bi. God is “the One who said ‘Enough’,” who has given me abundant grace—bringing me from a rural school with only two rooms to earning a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree, and becoming a university professor. Yet, beyond the position of professor are higher ranks, such as distinguished professor, academician, or Nobel laureate, with even Nobel laureates having varying degrees of academic prestige. While God was capable of granting any such positions, He deemed that being an ordinary professor was sufficient for me to fulfill His purpose. It is the All-Sufficient God who sets limits for each of us. From another perspective, God also sets limits on the suffering each person endures. For example, in Genesis 43:14, Jacob says to his sons, “May God Almighty (or G-d The Sufficient) (א-ל ש-די) grant you mercy before the man so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to return with you. But as for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” Rashi explains that Jacob invokes the name El Shaddai (“God The Sufficient”) to express hope that the One who says “Enough” will declare that Jacob’s suffering is sufficient. Jacob had endured threats from his brother Esau and uncle Laban, the violation of his daughter Dinah, the death of his beloved wife Rachel during childbirth, the disappearance of his son Joseph, a famine, and the imprisonment of his son Simeon by the Egyptian ruler. Now, his youngest son, Benjamin, was being taken to Egypt as well. Jacob hoped that God would decide that his suffering had been enough. Indeed, Jacob’s fate soon turned, and his suffering did not continue. He was reunited with Joseph, Simeon, and Benjamin, and Joseph, who was now the ruler of Egypt, provided ample food for the family. See Rashi on Genesis 43:14.

In Exodus 6:3, the text mentions two of God’s names: El Shaddai (G-d the Sufficient) and Y-HWH. God revealed Himself as El Shaddai to Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, the forefathers of Israel. Though He enabled Abraham’s 318 men to defeat the armies of four kings, blessed Isaac with a hundredfold harvest, and made Jacob a prosperous shepherd, God did not perform miracles that openly defied natural laws, such as turning water into blood, transforming dust into lice, or parting the Red Sea. These ancestors had what was sufficient for them—God, the One who says “Enough,” provided for them according to His purpose. By this point in the narrative, however, hundreds of thousands of Israelites were about to leave Egyptian slavery to become God’s chosen people. God would soon perform numerous miraculous signs that defied the natural order, demonstrating that He is the Creator, who establishes natural phenomena and can alter them. Nothing could hinder the Creator’s determination to choose His people. Through these wonders, God would reveal His name Y-HWH, the name that transcends all limitations. See Ramban on Genesis 17:1 https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Genesis.17.1?ven=english|Commentary_on_the_Torah_by_Ramban_(Nachmanides)._Translated_and_annotated_by_Charles_B._Chavel._New_York,_Shilo_Pub._House,_1971-1976&lang=bi.